Easment Protects 197 Acres

ENTERPRISE, OR -- Today the Wallowa Land Trust and Woody Wolfe Ranch announced establishment of the first agricultural Conservation Easement on a working farm in Wallowa County. This mid-Wallowa Valley easement covers ranchlands surrounding the confluence of the Lostine and Wallowa Rivers, near Highway 82 between the towns of Lostine and Wallowa, on both sides of Baker Road.

This Conservation Easement encompasses 197 acres: 161 acres of prime farm ground and 36 acres of aquatic lands, including about 2.5 miles of river, the confluence itself, and associated riparian areas and wetlands. It will dedicate the property to agricultural uses in perpetuity, guaranteeing the tradition of farming and ranching while precluding residential development. The easement will reduce pressure on streamsides from commercial grazing and development along the river corridors, restoring critical wetlands functions and enhancing habitat for spring Chinook salmon, summer steelhead, resident bull trout, and other fish and wildlife populations.

Conservation Easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners and land trusts, created to protect natural and traditional values of the property in perpetuity. This is the fourth such easement in the county and the first on a working farm or ranch. The Wolfe family will continue to own and farm their property.

For the landowner, this Conservation Easement provides several economic benefits. Woody Wolfe, who with his wife Megan farms this property and adjoining agricultural lands, noted “the easement was something I could do to bring my net cost of property down closer to agricultural production value, without dividing off pieces and selling them for homes. Since this has been in the works for almost seven years, we’ve had time to be thorough. It ensures the land will stay in farm production. We’ve donated part of the assessed value of the easement. However, the land trust is buying most of it, and we can use the income to reduce debt and improve our cash-flow position.”

This is the Wallowa Land Trust’s first purchased Conservation Easement. “The easement will help stabilize the agricultural landbase in the middle valley as well as secure intact reaches of the Wallowa and Lostine Rivers,” commented James Monteith, President of the Trust, based in Enterprise. “It underscores our commitment to working farms and ranches throughout the Wallowa Country, and demonstrates how voluntary private lands conservation can serve both agriculture and fish and wildlife resources,” he continued. “This easement guarantees the property will remain in agricultural production, and also will improve water quality by protecting riparian areas and critical wetlands in this important river system.”

Wolfe elaborated on his family’s interest and motivation for the farm easement. “I don't want this valley to look like a suburb. A lot of people in this county seem to be attached to scenic values. This is a way to capitalize on its economic value while preserving what people like here.” A sixth generation member of his family, he raises a variety of crops, primarily wheat, and leases portions of the property for cattle grazing.

The Lostine-Wallowa Confluence Conservation Easement comprises a little under half the full parcel of 454 acres of farm ground eventually to be under easement. It’s the first in a two-step process to secure funding for the entire Conservation Easement by the Wallowa Land Trust, which is now in the process of raising additional monies to complete the easement on the remaining 257 acres of this parcel.

The Easement Property represents many significant Wallowa County traditions. It lies within the larger Wolfe Century Ranch, originally established in 1897 and designated a Century Farm in 1997. From time immemorial, it served as a traditional Indian summer fishing camp for the Wallowa Band Nez Perce (the W’al’wama), and today is a private lands unit of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Old Chief Joseph died here in 1871 and was originally buried nearby, before being reinterred in 1926 at the Indian Cemetery at the foot of Wallowa Lake, adjacent to the recently acquired Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site.

Many local families and individuals contributed to this effort, helping the Trust pay for the easement. Along with a series of small grants, these donations provided initial support to complete the required natural resource inventories, surveys and appraisals. Acquisition funds were provided in part by generous grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, to protect important fish and wildlife habitat identified in Oregon’s Wildlife Action Plan, and by PacifiCorp/PGE.

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About the Wallowa Land Trust

The Wallowa Land Trust was founded in 2004 and is governed by local residents. Its mission is “to protect the rural nature of the Wallowa Valley and surrounding areas by working cooperatively with private landowners, governmental entities, Indian tribes and local communities.” The Trust uses economic incentives to help conserve the valley’s natural, historic, cultural and agricultural resources, including forests, farmlands, ranchlands, grasslands, wetlands, waterways and open space, for the benefit of present and future generations. It purchases, and/or receives in donation, Conservation Easements and fee title properties from willing sellers. In some instances it works with landowners to find motivated buyers to maintain traditional uses of their lands.

The Trust operates three major programs: Farms & Ranchlands, its largest program area, whose purpose is to secure agricultural ground as perpetual working lands, helping keep farms and ranches intact; Indian Sacred Lands; and Habitat & Open Ground. Its office is on South River Street, across from the county courthouse.

First Agricultural Conservation Easement in the Valley Completed

JOSEPH, OR -- On the 15th of February 2011, the Wallowa Land Trust and Woody Wolfe Ranch announced establishment of the first agricultural Conservation Easement on a working farm in Wallowa County. This mid-Wallowa Valley easement covers ranchlands surrounding the confluence of the Lostine and Wallowa Rivers, near Highway 82 between the towns of Lostine and Wallowa, on both sides of Baker Road.

This Conservation Easement encompasses 197 acres: 161 acres of prime farm ground and 36 acres of aquatic lands, including about 2.5 miles of river, the confluence itself, and associated riparian areas and wetlands. It will dedicate the property to agricultural uses in perpetuity, guaranteeing the tradition of farming and ranching while precluding residential development. The easement will reduce pressure on streamsides from commercial grazing and development along the river corridors, restoring critical wetlands functions and enhancing habitat for spring Chinook salmon, summer steelhead, resident bull trout, and other fish and wildlife populations.

Conservation Easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners and land trusts, created to protect natural and traditional values of the property in perpetuity. This is the fourth such easement in the county and the first on a working farm or ranch. The Wolfe family will continue to own and farm their property.

For the landowner, this Conservation Easement provides several economic benefits. Woody Wolfe, who with his wife Megan farms this property and adjoining agricultural lands, noted “the easement was something I could do to bring my net cost of property down closer to agricultural production value, without dividing off pieces and selling them for homes. Since this has been in the works for almost seven years, we’ve had time to be thorough. It ensures the land will stay in farm production. We’ve donated part of the assessed value of the easement. However, the land trust is buying most of it, and we can use the income to reduce debt and improve our cash-flow position.”

This is the Wallowa Land Trust’s first purchased Conservation Easement. “The easement will help stabilize the agricultural landbase in the middle valley as well as secure intact reaches of the Wallowa and Lostine Rivers,” commented James Monteith, President of the Trust, based in Enterprise. “It underscores our commitment to working farms and ranches throughout the Wallowa Country, and demonstrates how voluntary private lands conservation can serve both agriculture and fish and wildlife resources,” he continued. “This easement guarantees the property will remain in agricultural production, and also will improve water quality by protecting riparian areas and critical wetlands in this important river system.”

Wolfe elaborated on his family’s interest and motivation for the farm easement. “I don't want this valley to look like a suburb. A lot of people in this county seem to be attached to scenic values. This is a way to capitalize on its economic value while preserving what people like here.” A sixth generation member of his family, he raises a variety of crops, primarily wheat, and leases portions of the property for cattle grazing.

The Lostine-Wallowa Rivers Confluence Conservation Easement comprises a little under half the full parcel of 454 acres of farm ground eventually to be under easement. It’s the first in a two-step process to secure funding for the entire Conservation Easement by the Wallowa Land Trust, which is now in the process of raising additional monies to complete the easement on the remaining 257 acres of this parcel.

The Easement Property represents many significant Wallowa County traditions. It lies within the larger Wolfe Century Ranch, originally established in 1897 and designated a Century Farm in 1997. From time immemorial, it served as a traditional Indian summer fishing camp for the Wallowa Band Nez Perce (the W’al’wama), and today is a private lands unit of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Old Chief Joseph died here in 1871 and was originally buried nearby, before being reinterred in 1926 at the Indian Cemetery at the foot of Wallowa Lake, adjacent to the recently acquired Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site.

Many local families and individuals contributed to this effort, helping the Trust pay for the easement. Along with a series of small grants, these donations provided initial support to complete the required natural resource inventories, surveys and appraisals. Acquisition funds were provided in part by generous grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, to protect important fish and wildlife habitat identified in Oregon’s Wildlife Action Plan, and by PacifiCorp/PGE.

The Wallowa Land Trust was founded in 2004 and is governed by local residents. Its mission is “to protect the rural nature of the Wallowa Valley and surrounding areas by working cooperatively with private landowners, governmental entities, Indian tribes and local communities.” The Trust uses economic incentives to help conserve the valley’s natural, historic, cultural and agricultural resources, including forests, farmlands, ranchlands, grasslands, wetlands, waterways and open space, for the benefit of present and future generations. It purchases, and/or receives in donation, Conservation Easements and fee title properties from willing sellers. In some instances it works with landowners to find motivated buyers to maintain traditional uses of their lands.

The Trust operates three major programs: Farms & Ranchlands, its largest program area, whose purpose is to secure agricultural ground as perpetual working lands, helping keep farms and ranches intact; Indian Sacred Lands; and Habitat & Open Ground. Its office is on South River Street, across from the county courthouse.

Bend, OR—Central Oregon community organizations, the Deschutes Land Trust and Experience Works, combined efforts to place Mary Sojourner, national author and NPR commentator, at the Deschutes Land Trust as Writer in Residence.

One of Sojourner’s first tasks was to launch the new Deschutes Land Trust blog, Trusting the Land, with her initial post Earth Alchemy. She will write for the Deschutes Land Trust website; research and write articles for national publications; create media and public relations materials---and teach twice-monthly Writing from Place workshops.

“We’re incredibly excited to have Mary join our work,” Brad Chalfant, Executive Director says. “She has written about and for Western lands for twenty-five years. She brings not just writing and teaching skills to the Deschutes Land Trust, but rapidly growing knowledge of Central Oregon forests, deserts and waterways.”

“I’m equally excited by this opportunity,” Sojourner says, “especially since I believe so strongly in the work of Land Trusts. I’ve read, written and taught for many of them at both local and national levels. Land Trusts are more than good neighbors—they keep the greater neighborhood alive.”

The Deschutes Land Trust has been keeping the greater Central Oregon neighborhood alive for 15 years since its beginning at the Deschutes Brewery in 1995. It is fitting that Sojourner will begin teaching her Writing from Place workshops on the anniversary of the Land Trust’s founding.

“We will meet on the gorgeous properties the Deschutes Land Trust is protecting and let the land tell us its stories. Writing from Place is for beginning adults and kids and for those writers who want to move into writing about the land. I’ve taught this workshop for twenty years—in the Southwest and the Mojave Desert—and I’m delighted to begin teaching it here in a vastly different landscape.”

The Deschutes Land Trust conserves land for wildlife, scenic views, and local communities. Experience Works places older, low-income workers at partnership sites that can offer new opportunities and training to help them secure permanent jobs. “This is an incredible opportunity for me,” Sojourner says, “to finally learn the inner workings of operating a Land Trust and the lands we all love in Central Oregon.”

For more information about Experience Works, visit www.experienceworks.org. To register for a Writing from Place workshop, contact the Deschutes Land Trust at (541) 330-0017 or visit www.deschuteslandtrust.org.

The Deschutes Land Trust conserves land for wildlife, scenic views, and local communities. As Central Oregon’s only nationally accredited and locally-based land trust, the Deschutes Land Trust has protected more than 7,700 acres in since 1995. For more information on Deschutes Land Trust, contact us at (541) 330-0017 or visit www.deschuteslandtrust.org.

Corvallis– The Greenbelt Land Trust has named Michael Pope as Executive Director of the organization, effective February 1st.

“The Greenbelt Board of Directors is committed to continuing the organization’s tradition of excellence, and we feel that Michael has a unique combination of regional conservation experience, leadership skills and vision that will continue to advance the work that the Land Trust has successfully accomplished throughout the past twenty years,” said Cary Stephens, chair of the Greenbelt Board.

Pope has extensive state-wide and local conservation experience, having served as the Oregon Conservation Strategy Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and as the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) Wildlife Mitigation Coordinator. “I’ve enjoyed an interesting career from conducting and coordinating research on species and habitats to providing direction and funding to restore and protect wildlife habitats,” said Pope.

“I am very excited about becoming the Executive Director of the Greenbelt Land Trust and look forward to the new challenges as this organization continues to grow and expand into new communities, “ said Pope, who has lived in Corvallis for the past 22 years. “The organization has done tremendous work in the Mid-Willamette Valley and provided permanent protections for hundreds of acres of valuable habitat and open space.”

Pope has worked extensively in the Willamette Basin with Federal and state natural resource agencies and non-profits to implement restoration and protections of key habitats such as upland and wet prairie and oak savanna. Pope has been a key partner with the Greenbelt Land Trust and helped facilitate the acquisition of conservation easements on the Little Willamette, Willamette Bluffs and Lone Star Properties through Bonneville Power Administration funding.

Michael has a diverse background, ranging from a BA in Asian History to 13 years as a professional boat builder, practicing his craft from Maine to Maryland to Alaska. One day in Bristol Bay, Alaska, he straightened up from a boat he was repairing to watch a flock of tundra swans as they flew overhead.

“It was a cathartic moment,” he said. “I suddenly knew that I wanted to work with tundra swans and grizzly bears and fish and their habitats—I wanted to study the attributes of the natural world.”

In addition to his B.A. from the University of North Carolina, he earned a B.S. and an M.S from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. from Oregon State University in Wildlife Sciences.

Contact: Rick McMonagleDirector of Development and CommunicationsMcKenzie River Trust541-345-2799 X114

McKenzie River Trust Receives 2009 Outstanding Environmental Organization Award for Leadership in Habitat Conservation and Management from the Oregon Recreation and Park Association.

The Natural Resources Section of the Oregon Recreation and Park Association(ORPA) has chosen the McKenzie River Trust for their 2009 Outstanding Environmental Organization Award for Leadership in Habitat Conservation and Management. The acknowledgment includes a $200 cash award.

The award was presented to Joe Moll, Executive Director of the McKenzie River Trust, at the 2009 ORPA Annual Conference at the Seaside Convention Center, Seaside, OR on Tuesday, September 22, 2009. The McKenzie River Trust was chosen for this award in 2009 based on their stewardship of lands in Lane and Douglas counties.

“During the course of our work as park professionals, we encounter many individuals and organizations who are providing exceptional service in preservation, restoration, and management of natural areas. Each year the Natural Resources Section of Oregon Recreation and Park Association selects one organization that we feel personifies leadership in habitat conservation and management,” said Julie Reilly, Director-at-Large, Natural Resource Section of the ORPA. “We wish to recognize them for their hard work, dedication in the face of great odds, and accomplishments in natural area restoration, preservation, and promotion,” she added.

The McKenzie River Trust dedicates significant resources each year to protect special lands in western Oregon from the Cascades to the Coast. “We were very surprised and honored to receive this recognition from ORPA for our conservation work,” stated Joe Moll, Executive Director of the Trust. “We’ve been really encouraged by the growing interest that the parks and rec professional community has taken in habitat conservation, so to have our efforts highlighted by them is really quite exciting,” he added.

The Oregon Recreation and Park Association is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to support members through training, professional development, legislative advocacy, & peer networking, in order to enhance the quality of recreation and park services.

The McKenzie River Trust is a local grassroots land trust working since 1989 to protect special lands in Lane and Douglas county Oregon for their fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, and scenic values. The Trust has been recognized by its partners for being creative with its projects, professional in its work with landowners, and committed to the community. For more information on the Trust go to www.mckenzieriver.org.